While typically light hearted, Carlos turned to me with his mother and sister remaining and said, “Kai. There is one word in Spanish that you must know. One word that is very important.” I responded, “Que?”. Carlos answered “Pedo”. “And what is ‘Pedo’?”

With a serious face Carlos stated, “Fart.” Of course we all laughed, but Carlos remained serious, “No Kai, you don’t understand.” Here he paused to regain a serious face, “My sister, her farts, they are very bad.”

Dania, 19, screamed, “No Carlos! They are not! Your’s are just as –”

Carlos, “Kai. One time, she was in the bathroom, making a shit. And I was in my bedroom. The door to the bathroom was shut. The door to my bedroom was shut. And I could still smell her. It was really bad.”

At this point, Dania was quite red in the face and emphatically denying the entire description. Finally, she turned to her mother who was laughing very hard and pleaded, “Momma! Momma! It’s not true!”

There was a moment’s hesitation, those seated at the table were quiet, and then Angelica burst into tears and exclaimed, “It’s true! It’s true! She smells very bad!”

I nearly fell from my chair! My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. We must have talked about farts in both English and Spanish for a good hour. It was the best meal I have had in Mexico yet!